Stored in biobanks, frozen and bodiless, genes and the information they contain are turning into time travellers - be it a sheaf of barley, the stem cells of a polar bear or drops of human blood. Within this time capsule we also place old dreams: the re-creation of extinct animal species, putting an end to world hunger, human life without illness or disease. We embark on an expedition that will assemble some of the greatest and oldest archives of life and the most modern biobanks. We meet people who are reconstructing the order of nature. And we experience a struggle over life itself that not only affects scientists, but all of us.